New Rules on Electronics Expanding at U.S. Airport Checkpoints

November 1, 2017by Mark Albert

WASHINGTON (TVR) – The Transportation Security Administration is expanding stricter screening procedures at airports across the country, asking passengers to remove all electronic devices from their carry-on bags, as well as a wide array of other items, including food.

The “new, stronger screening procedures” at TSA checkpoints comes after a pilot program at 10 airports began in May.

“As part of our counterterrorism efforts, TSA continuously enhances and adjusts security screening procedures to stay ahead of evolving threats,” explained Darby LaJoye, TSA’s assistant administrator for security operations, when the pilot program began.

“TSA’s top priority is to protect the traveling public, and every policy and security procedure in place is designed to mitigate threats to passengers and the aviation sector – which we know our adversaries continue to target,” LaJoye said.

Within the past week, the TSA has announced the new procedures would begin at Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) in the national capital region, as well as Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ), Spokane International Airport (GEG), Bradley International Airport (BDL), Orlando International Airport (MCO), and Tucson International Airport (TUS).

In the month of October, the TSA issued individual local news releases about new procedures at approximately 30 airports nationwide. There was no national announcement this month of the rapidly expanding measures.

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How Stricter Screening Works

At these test airports, passengers are asked to place additional items in bins separate from their bags for X-ray screening and asked to make sure the items are not stacked on top of each other.

The TSA hopes separating the items will give officers a clearer look at often jam-packed bags, as passengers seek to take more of their items with them into the cabin to avoid airline bag fees.

In response to concerns that the stricter screening could slow down already busy lines at the height of the summer travel season, LaJoye said, “we are testing quicker and more targeted procedures at these locations.”

Earlier this month, TSA announced an additional 2,000 officers and 50 canine teams would be deployed across the country to help speed travelers through airport checkpoints and screen the public.

As of now, there are no changes to the types of items that can be brought onboard the aircraft for domestic flights or international flights leaving the U.S.

Passengers enrolled in trusted traveler programs may be exempted from the requirement to remove additional items from their carry-on luggage, The Wall Street Journal reported.

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Security Analysts Skeptical

Some security analysts are skeptical, however, that the new testing procedures will be effective.

“I don’t think it’s going to streamline the process,” Marshall McClain, an airport security expert, told CBS News Wednesday.

“To truly have something to deter, you’re still going to have to have armed police officers to do that, rather than worrying about whether people have too many papers in their luggage,” he explained.

In March, the TSA increased the number of passengers subjected to more intensive physical screening, by consolidating five separate pat-downs into a single, more intimate standardized procedure for those selected for secondary screening.

A TSA spokesman at the time told The Voyage Report the more intensive pat-downs were needed to “meet the evolving threat.”

The agency’s screeners failed to stop 95% of fake weapons and mock explosives smuggled through TSA checkpoints during a 2015 internal review, CBS News reported, and has been under scrutiny by Congress to improve.

It is expecting to screen a record number passengers this summer, perhaps as many as 2.5 million travelers on peak days.

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Laptop Threat Behind Ban

The intelligence leading the U.S. to consider expanding the electronics ban to flights from Europe is reported to be part of the classified intelligence Pres. Trump suddenly disclosed to top Russian officials in an Oval Office meeting earlier this month.

ISIS has been testing “a new generation of more powerful explosives” at Mosul University in Iraq that could then be concealed in a laptop computer, CBS News has reported.

Mosul has been under the militants’ control since 2014.

U.S. officials said the initial electronics ban was put in place because “evaluated intelligence” showed terrorist groups were keen on developing new, stealth explosives that could fit into a laptop-sized device and be carried on an aircraft, endangering passengers and crew.

Explosives inside a laptop detonated onboard a Daallo Airlines flight last year while the aircraft was in mid-air.

Only the suspected bomber died and the plane landed safely, despite a gaping hole in the fuselage.

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Mark Albert

Mark is a Peabody Award-winner who has reported in newsrooms across the country, most recently as a freelance correspondent at CBS News. He's traveled to 60 countries so far and plans to get to the rest—with a little luck.

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